Three killed in Ukraine as lawmakers adopt law on status of rebel east

Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday adopted two bills enshrining greater autonomy for areas controlled by pro-Russian rebels, in line with a peace deal that continues to be marred by deadly skirmishes.

Over 260 lawmakers in the 450-seat Rada voted in favour of both bills introduced by President Petro Poroshenko, which had drawn fire both from the rebels and nationalists in Kiev.

“This law will give power to people whose hands are covered with the blood of Ukrainians,” former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, now a lawmaker, said during a heated debate in parliament.

The vote came amid fresh reports of casualties despite a truce in the fighting between government forces and the separatist, who seized control of parts of the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions last year after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula.

Three soldiers were killed and five injured in the past 24 hours, an army spokesman said.

Some of the casualties were caused by fire from the rebels, the others when a military vehicle drove over a landmine, spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters, refusing to give a more precise account of the incidents.

The government complains daily of continuing grenade, mortar and small arms fire from the rebels against its positions.

The rebels also accuse the government of ceasefire violations.

Despite the continuing clashes in a handful of flashpoints the February 12 truce has largely held.

With the violence, which has killed over 6,000 people, now subsiding, the focus has shifted to the political elements of the peace deal, which require Kiev to surrender a degree of control over rebel-held areas.

The bills adopted by parliament build on a first set of laws dating from September that gave “special status” to parts of Donetsk and Lugansk.

The areas to be given a form of self-rule — including greater status for the Russian language — are listed for the first time in the texts adopted Tuesday, which also set out conditions for the changes to take effect.

Kiev says the separatists must first hold local elections under Ukrainian law, with international monitoring.

“Ukraine’s position is that we will deal with representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk who will be elected legitimately and in accordance with Ukrainian law… in polls that will be recognised by the entire civilised world,” President Petro Poroshenko said Tuesday.

“There will not be any other elections in Ukraine.”

The rebels had earlier rejected the conditions.

Reacting to the bills, Denis Pushilin, a senior rebel representative, told AFP they were “a complete violation of the Minsk agreements”.

He said the rebels would outline their position in full shortly.